Review: Comedy westerns have a strong legacy through classics like Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles, Support your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter (with James Garner), Paleface and Son of Paleface (with Bob Hope and Jane Russell) all the way back to the brilliant Destry Rides Again (with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich). Unfortunately for each of these classics theres the odd Wild Wild West to restore movie western Karma, and Seth Macfarlanes follow on to Ted  A Million Ways to Die in the West  is on that other side of the scales.Macfarlane aside (who really isnt funny enough to take the leading role of the sheep farmer Albert) the rest of the cast is bordering on stellar featuring Liam Neeson, Sarah Silverman, Amanda Seyfried and the gorgeous Charlize Theron. And they work very hard at it: Theron occasionally laughs like a hyena (to cover the fact that normally we are not) and Neeson plays the straight man villain very straight indeed.So lets accentuate the positive for a moment. The photography of the Utah locations is gorgeous. Joel McNeelys western score is sumptuous (gotta love a western soundtrack) and the songs (including the moustache song and the title song) are both catchy and suitably ridiculous.And there are moments in this film that are genuinely funny: Sarah Silvermans Christian hooker with a heart who is saving herself for her husband-to-be, played by the excellent Giovanni Ribisi (Frank Buffay Jnr in Friends), while servicing 10 of the locals (on a slow day); shooting practice with plates and a doctors blue woodpecker for the aftermath; the Navajo translation for fine being Mila Kunis and  most surreal of all  Alberts drugged up trip with moustache wearing dancing sheep.There are also some amusing cameos, particularly one in a barn (dont watch some of the trailers  the one embedded below is OK  if you want that one to stay a surprise).But the bits that did make me really laugh were few and far between. A lot of the jokes fall face first into the dry Utah dust with the humour similar to Alberts aim: scattergun. The script stoops to swearing at every opportunity (because thats always funny isnt it?) and whilst toilet humour can work in moderation you need to know when to stop and when to leave something to the imagination. Id like to suggest that this was a self-written, self-directed over-indulgent piece by Macfarlane, given carte blanche to indulge, and over-indulge, by studio execs after the runaway success of Ted  – but he did have co-writers who could and should have balanced his content more (Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild  I havent actually checked that these dont make an anagram of Seth Macfarlane).Comedy movies need to have good material across the whole running time, which means the films need to be tautened until the material twangs along its whole length. This was not one of those films.(If you enjoyed this review, please check out my other reviews on bobmann447.wordpress.com, and sign up to Follow the Fad. Thanks!).

Review: This review comes from someone who likes Famnily Guy and really enjoyed TED… but this new one… was… ouch… I went in expecting a few laughs but there were fewer than even my low expectations predicted. Other than the script everything is top notch. Actors are great. Charlize and Liam and Sarah Silverman etc are terrific. Its too bad they didnt have something better to work with. Liam in fact seems like hes in a different movie. Hes 100 percent serious. That might be Seths point in making a guy (himself) who is caught in the middle of a serious horrible deadly world that the west really was.It looks very good visually. Great score. But very inconsistent. Not hit and miss. More like hit and miss miss miss groan miss semi-hit miss. And the joke style kept changing. Silly to sweet to over the top and serious at times. and some of the jokes were so disgusting I dont know what they were thinking. (and i like disgusting) Plus the anachronistic style gets tired fast. And Seth as predicted should not have made himself the lead. Hes not awful but would have benefited greatly with a pro. His persona is not fit for leading man status. And his voice and style is so in step with Brians on family guy its a bit distracting. Basically the tone of this film keeps changing. The joke styles keep changing. it doesnt know what it is. Is is a sweet western romcom? Is it a satire? Is it a serious comedy? With all the success from Ted Im guessing Seth had carte blanche with this one and probably needed someone to question him more. Might be more fun if your stoned. Really really stoned. And/or maybe just see Blazing Saddles instead.

Review: This review comes from someone who likes Famnily Guy and really enjoyed TED… but this new one… was… ouch… I went in expecting a few laughs but there were fewer than even my low expectations predicted. Other than the script everything is top notch. Actors are great. Charlize and Liam and Sarah Silverman etc are terrific. Its too bad they didnt have something better to work with. Liam in fact seems like hes in a different movie. Hes 100 percent serious. That might be Seths point in making a guy (himself) who is caught in the middle of a serious horrible deadly world that the west really was.It looks very good visually. Great score. But very inconsistent. Not hit and miss. More like hit and miss miss miss groan miss semi-hit miss. And the joke style kept changing. Silly to sweet to over the top and serious at times. and some of the jokes were so disgusting I dont know what they were thinking. (and i like disgusting) Plus the anachronistic style gets tired fast. And Seth as predicted should not have made himself the lead. Hes not awful but would have benefited greatly with a pro. His persona is not fit for leading man status. And his voice and style is so in step with Brians on family guy its a bit distracting. Basically the tone of this film keeps changing. The joke styles keep changing. it doesnt know what it is. Is is a sweet western romcom? Is it a satire? Is it a serious comedy? With all the success from Ted Im guessing Seth had carte blanche with this one and probably needed someone to question him more. Might be more fun if your stoned. Really really stoned. And/or maybe just see Blazing Saddles instead.